March 1, 2013 – This week marked the third anniversary of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative and to commemorate the occasion, Mrs. Obama has been on a two-day celebratory tour that included a stop at Eastside and Northside Elementary Schools in Clinton, Miss. She was joined by celebrity chef Rachael Ray and 400 elementary school students to participate in the “Let's Move! Cafeteria Cook-off.” SNA Past President Mary Hill, SNS, executive director of foodservices, Jackson (Miss.) Public Schools, represented SNA at the event’s press conference.

The “Let's Move! Cafeteria Cook-off” competition paired two teams—cafeteria chef Fannie and celebrity chef Sunny Anderson versus cafeteria chef Wendy and celebrity chef Ryan Scott—with the challenge of making the most delicious, healthy school lunch. Mrs. Obama and Rachael Ray watched as student judges scored the lunches from blind taste tests. Before the winner was announced, the First Lady applauded the work of Fannie, Wendy and their peers in school cafeterias across the country.

“These are major, major achievements. And I know that getting to this point hasn’t been easy. I know that a lot of folks had to put in a lot of time and effort to make all this possible. And I’m particularly proud of all of the school chefs, the food service workers at schools like this one all across this state, and all across this country. And I want to take time to recognize those folks in the kitchen who do the hard work of cooking for our kids and loving every minute of it. When we passed historic legislation to improve school lunches for the first time in 15 years, these were the folks who had to totally transform their menus in a matter of months. They had to work with totally new ingredients. And they had to satisfy both strict nutrition requirements and, as we know, picky eaters.”

SNA was honored to have the First Lady recognize the efforts of school nutrition professionals who are working hard to implement the new meal standards. As a Let’s Move! partner, SNA and its members will continue to support the initiative by further improving the nutritional quality of school meals and by helping advance nutrition education for America’s students.